Witbank was a constituency in the Transvaal Province of South Africa, which existed from 1920 to 1994. Named after the town of Witbank, it covered a rural area in the eastern Transvaal. Throughout its existence it elected one member to the House of Assembly and one to the Transvaal Provincial Council.
Franchise notes When the Union of South Africa was formed in 1910, the electoral qualifications in use in each pre-existing colony were kept in place. In the Transvaal Colony, and its predecessor the South African Republic, the vote was restricted to white men, and as such, elections in the Transvaal Province were held on a whites-only franchise from the beginning. The franchise was also restricted by property and education qualifications until the 1933 general election, following the passage of the Women's Enfranchisement Act, 1930 and the Franchise Laws Amendment Act, 1931. From then on, the franchise was given to all white citizens aged 21 or over. Non-whites remained disenfranchised until the end of apartheid and the introduction of universal suffrage in 1994.
History Like most of the rural Transvaal, Witbank was a conservative seat and had a largely Afrikaans-speaking electorate. It was generally a safe seat for the National Party, with two major exceptions: the 1934-48 period, when the United Party was dominant throughout the province until defeated T. C. Robertson from the United Party, and after 1987, when the Conservative Party took advantage of rural white discontent with P. W. Botha's policy of limited reform to take over a number of rural seats, including Witbank.
Members ElectionMemberParty 1920 A. I. E. de Villiers National 1921 1924 1929 G. T. Robertson 1933 S. P. Bekker 1934 by J. T. Bezuidenhout 1934 United 1938 1943 H. J. Bekker 1948 HNP 1953 National 1958 1961 1966 T. N. H. Janson 1970 1974 1977 1981 A. F. Fouché 1987 W. J. D. van Wyk Conservative 1989 1994 Constituency abolished Schoeman, B.M. (1977). Parlementêre verkiesings in Suid-Afrika 1910-1976. Pretoria: Aktuele Publikasies. Standard Encyclopaedia of Southern Africa (1972). "House of Assembly" (vol. 5, pp. 617–636). Cape Town: Nasionale Opvoedkundige Uitgewery (Nasou). South Africa 1980/81: Official Yearbook of the Republic of South Africa. Johannesburg: Chris van Rensburg Publications. South Africa 1983: Official Yearbook of the Republic of South Africa. Johannesburg: Chris van Rensburg Publications. Government Gazette of South Africa, No. 10751. 22 May 1987. Pretoria: Government of South Africa. Government Gazette of South Africa, No. 12109. 20 September 1989. Pretoria: Government of South Africa.
Detailed results Elections in the 1920s
Elections in the 1930s
References